Rooofus Doofus!- Online Takeover

So, it’s time for a wake up call. Oh ye of tiny listing thumbnails and lip service social engagement, hark! The following is a for real instructional, even a challenge to “would be” investor types. Take it from an old Internet hand, everything I say below can be done. I know, you are a bit curious, and my writing style, while flowing, is wordy, so here is a one minute instructional for taking over real estate online one-market-at-a-time.

First, the SERPs can be pretty much bought. If not outright via a good SEM campaign, then good old premium content and SEO strategy. Throw in some news, cutting edge site design and compliance, and especially some SM and user value, and Bingo! Trulia and Zillow move over. You see, there really is no one else out there. Okay, one or two to compete with for your attention -buyer or seller – but very few. In the startup world, venture capitalists or even my pals at the tech blogs might as for “differentiation” for a real estate startup, let’s call our new “baby” Rooofus – all your property needs under one rooof, with a big R for you know what, and an extra o for good measure! Later on we’ll stack those o’s into a nice pile of smileys for a good logo. But for now.

Imagine a real estate website that does not show off white space and banner ads, but the home you want to sell, to buy. Fast, efficient, no nonsense, but imminently capable of answering your questions. Imagine following the link in the image below, and instead of a classy New York hotel, you find a Grand Rapids Realtor, selling houses, hooked to you via this site, social media, smart devices….

The Library Hotels from Library Collection Hotels – A WIHP Hotels Convert Website

99.999 percent of real estate websites suck. Even the once in a lifetime octagenarian who takes his great grandson#s advice and looks for his retirement fishing cottage online, is apt to leave the web in disgust on venturing to what agents these days call Internet presence. I won’t argue this point, and please don’t be so obtuse as to come argue yourself either. To tackle this aspect we simply engage some friends of ours in the hotel marketing space, WIHP (World Independent Hotel Promotions), work out how to scale their Convert hotel booking strategy for real estate listings, then build out for each of 50 markets in the US. We can start with Atlanta maybe? To get the picture, look at a recent press bit my company Pamil Visions PR helped out WIHP with.

You see, WIHP Hotels was a successful Paris company, content with lapping up all the boutique and exclusive little gems in and about Paris, then outward to Budapest, Prague, Spain, blah blah, and Capri, Sicily, Argentina, and, and New York City! That’s right, good news travels fast and the nicest boutique hotels in Manhattan, re-vamped as the Library Collection, bottom line “intelligently leveraging and executing with tools like WIHP’s Convert marketing suite, will be a virtual tsunami washing over what’s out there now. All you have to do is put a good roof over a leading edge plan, make it safe and warm inside, and.. Let’s move on.

Socialite or Sociopath

Okay, we just bought Roofus.com. Our pals over at WIHP in Paris have converted Convert. to engage perfectly any home seller or buyer, to show off an “experience” of the place being bought or sold, a value so concrete in digital form as to exactly portray what we are selling… Now what? People have to see our new and wondrous landing pages, now don’t they? Enter WIHP Hotels again, along with the rest of our network, our own SEO and SEM capabilities, and WIHP’s landmark adwords and other search engine marketing capabilities, media buy capablilties, and Pamil Visions media outreach capabilities (or Blueglass Interactive, MWW Group, Waggener Edstrom, whoever you choose to do the PR and marketing) Bingo! It is not rocket science once you have a nice storefont.

The same 99.999 percent of Realtors who even venture online to offer up their wares, and engage in social media practices, appear to real web experts as sociopath wanna be’s for the most part. Just having a Twitter and LinkedIn account, tweeting every day about how wonderful you are, this does not make you or your business expert at anything. If it were up to me, anyone still doing hard sell social on Facebook or Twitter for their real estate company, should be forced to hold up a sign like the one below.

As a new friend just commented on a Skype call, “you call these revelations a Stroke of sudden wisdom.” Of course he was not talking about running across some “would be” social media real estate guru, but the wisdom of knowing most don’t get it or are too cheap and lazy to really accept engagement, this is a revelation all home buyers and sellers should take to heart.

If your agent does not take seriously the most powerful selling and communicative conduit since TV, what does that say about you paying he or she a percentage of your hard earned home equity to… to do what? Hope and pray somebody drives by and sees their sign? Uh hum. Back to our instructional. I showed off some genuine social media gurus on Everything PR News just the other day, ask them if I am lying!!!

Let’s put it this way, anyone who knows their business on the social networks stands a million times greater potential for selling your home online, than some agent in Hoboken with a dilapidated website no one sees. Think about it, and start thinking about integrating all the stuff I am putting out here. Be a social media socialite. You can continue reading, try and absorb all this, or go visit Nicole Nicolay at MyTechOpinion, and get the tools to try this for yourself now. Nik Nik basically tells the same story only nicer and more friendly.

Commitment: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

The wise and the wise-cracker out there is saying about now; “Yeah fine, but where do I get the money for all this?” Listen folks, my partner and I, with a very small team, write, edit, and/or publish 6 media outlets, contribute to a dozen more, service more than a dozen PR clients, operate no less than 50 social media accounts, and handle the day to day of running a few business ventures. It’s about commitment, investing time and money. And yes, the rationale that says “if he is so smart, why doesn’t be just take over?”, this old adage is relevant. And there you have it.

For what the average idiotic Silicon Valley startup gets in investment to be a flop, we could take over just about every real estate market in the world,  online, with hardly a whimper. That is unless Trulia and or Zillow, or maybe some Big Daddy property boss decided to hire it done. Even then, there’s not doubt in my mind, not an inkling, that a large segment of real estate visibility online could be had quite easily. There is no one in the way! Imagine a sort of Ask.com meets TechCrunch, meets About.com, linked and interfaced with a near flawless and experiential site in all the major cities, then interlaced with every smaller one.

Impossible is checkmated by execution with intelligence and passion

It sounds interesting, fantastic, to good to be true, impossible, doesn’t it? What if somebody I send to read this is an Angel Investor?  What if sayings like “Content is King” – “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” by Steve Jobs – “The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful.” by Jonathan Zittrain – the reaching dogmatic that is Internet jargon, what if it is all true. Is Zillow the best there is? Hmm. Come on, I dare you, investigate how lame some of these markets are.

“The Internet has been the most fundamental change during my lifetime and for hundreds of years.” – Rupert Murdoch

This rant, this appeal, this plug for contemporaries in Paris or New York, it is not about what you may think. If you considered that I would like some VC out there to call me up and say; “Let’s do it!” – you would be right. If you also considered people like me just want to see if done, see if better, then you would be correct too. A lot of us are just sick of seeing mediocre efforts, both for clients and for the businesses that fuel our economy, our lives. It’s about time somebody just led, followed, or got the hell out of the way. All that stands in the way of a multi-million dollar online real estate win is execution.

You are welcome WIHP and all the others I plugged here, and/or gave ideas to. Maybe you have an itch to create the next cool thing, a better way for John and Jane Doe to sell or buy a home. Maybe. Let’s see, I think anybody with a little investment can be the next real estate tycoon.

Watch the video below.

Image credits: Andrius Repsys & Fotolia, BortN66 – Fotolia.com, and Thomas Pajot – Fotolia.com.

Baird & Warner

Illinois-based Baird & Warner Real Estate have just revealed their fresh and unconventional advertising campaign which seeks to address the challenging residential sales market head-on. They are encouraging consumers to give free rein to their imaginations to see how investing money into home-ownership could bring a more fulfilling life.

The new ad campaign embraces Baird & Warner’s innovative spirit, and is aimed at reinvigorating the real estate property market through using a series of aspirational statements that re-frame the home buying and selling conversation in a more consumer-centric and positive light.

Steve Baird, president and CEO of bed & Warner says “Real estate is more than just the home you live in-it’s the life you get out of it. To our sales team, that statement represents much2012 Brand Campaign Video more than just a tagline-it’s a fundamental recognition that our service offering is as individual as our clients themselves. We all know that home-ownership is far more than just four walls and a roof, and we need is a campaign to help us better capture the essence, and in the process more effectively represent our brand to the marketplace.”

In order to develop this creative strategy, Baird & Warner teamed up with some of the best talent in the industry including Cerise Films, Otherwise Incorporated, and Heads of State. The attention grabbing campaign is far removed from most real estate agents offerings.

Jennifer Alter Warden, president of Baird & Warner Residential Sales explained “Candidly, when we took a hard look at the current state of real estate marketing, including our own efforts, we saw a virtual sea of sameness. We knew that we needed something to break the cycle, and that the time had come for a game-changing approach that addressed consumers current needs.”

The new ad campaign is being unveiled just in time for the spring real estate market, and is utilizing both traditional and non-traditional media throughout north-eastern Illinois. This includes Metra station posters, highway billboards and outdoor displays to get the new messages across to millions of consumers throughout the city and suburbs.

Family-owned Baird & Warner Real Estate was established in 1855 and is the oldest residential real estate brokerage in the nation, and the largest independent broker in Illinois. It employs more than 1,400 sales professionals throughout north-eastern Illinois and is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 12 real estate firms. Steve Baird, the firm’s fifth generation owner, has been consistently recognized among the “Industry’s 100 Most Influential Leaders.”

For some super examples of big business engagements, check out Kristi Hines’ post on G+ pages, for closer to home Realtors, read on.

Google + Pages for Businesses will undoubtedly be the most popular tool for social interaction between customers and the companies they trust, in the future that is. Facebook, try as they have, has never allowed businesses to fully engage their clients, their customers. Answer a question here or there? Yes. But, monitor, show off, engage in ways such as using “hangouts” – this has never happened. Take a look at your contemporaries below, for a sneak peek at where the competition is headed.

Real Estate With Deborah – Lehigh Acres FL

Okay, besides having the absolute worst title of a G+ Page I ever saw, Deborah has managed to begin building a very nice profile on G+. Situated on the web, but on the ground in Lehigh Acres, Florida, Deborah also engages her potential customers on Facebook and Twitter. The company website could use some new paint, but overall, the agent seems to understand better than most the coming value of G+ at least. A tip of the hat to Deborah. Who is, by the way, currently only the assistant of Realtor William Eilf – Hmm, maybe the cart is before the horse here? Keep going Deborah A. Ten Brink!

G+ real estate page for this Florida agent in the making.

Okay, let me set the reader straight. Social media is still evolving. That Twitter account you set up two years ago, that never really put a dollar bill in your pocket – things take time, you know? Your Facebook efforts, for all the frustration you’ve felt because your phone never rank off the wall from there – you and Facebook needed to evolve. In many ways, Google is doing your online real estate work for you. Brokers like Jim Kimmons are opting in in a big way. Why?

The answer is, to be honest, Jim Kimmons “opted” into the Internet a long time ago. While you were sitting at the drive-thru to the old Schlotzsky’s Deli back when, Jim was paving the way to becoming one of About.com’smost successful experts. Okay, so Jim is in “the know” about web marketing. Shouldn’t you be? Super job Jim, keep showing people how to ramp up, and we will too.

Jim Kimmons real estate broker - a smart cookie

Belize? Does it strike anyone as funny that a G+ search of G+ for real estate brokers reveals a Belize agency before Dallas, Washington, LA, News York City? Uhumm. Buy Belize Real Estate evidently knows something about a billion other Realtors do not. Let’s just lay this out for you. Brokers Catherine Barothy and J. Trevor Miles know their clients speak presominantly English (Belize speaks English BTW) and that there are currently about 50 million people using G +.  I quote from their G + Page. (PS. I included their names in the tags

“Not only is Belize perfect for retirement, it’s a great place to invest with proven developments that yield high returns and offers many beautiful locations to choose from for your dream home or island vacation getaway.”

If for no other reason then, at least this Belize brokerage got mentioned in Google News for having a G+ business page . did you?

RE/MAX Realty Group Belize - Where the heck is the Dallas contingent of ReMax?

Real estate investor Ryan Bush is kicking your butt unbeknownst to you, until now. INTERNET PROFITS DEPOT, LLC is what it’s all about, right? I won’t do more of your homework for you here. Another hint tho, and this is not ego talking. Ryan already added RealtyBizNews before I wrote this about him, look at the screen. “Seeing” what is going on, is as important as your own “goings on” sometimes. Great job Ryan.

Ryan knows how to market himself, I think he can handle your house.

David Greenlees is the best. Do you know how we know? G+ enables you to search via several filters, one of which is “best of” – that’s how. Go to Google + and find out how, I am not giving you everything here. Beside the G + easy button for finding the best, one look at David’s G + presence pretty much does it for any upright walking primate. The guy has spent many hours filling in this presence. Many. And the pot of gold at the end?

Click the image and at least David wins the direct image link award for the day. Other than this, some of this guy’s millions had to come from online connections. Just had to.

The awesome presence of David on all networks - click the image to link

We’ll bring you more great profiles from G + and about the web later on. Take these under consideration, it’s in the best interest of your business to explore all the possibilities. Think of it this way, where would you be without your cell phone in a world full of mobility? Phil out for now.

Doreen E. Wanco, ABR, CRS, SRES, E-Pro Certified, CREO Specialist Georgia

President: W.O.W., Inc. 770-606-2229
Website: www.WOWANCO.COM

• Top 1% of All Realtors Nationwide
• Ranked 8th Statewide

Doreen Wanco is one of the true top producers among Realtors ®. She is ranked in the top 1% of all Realtors® in the United States, thanks to a whopping $68 MILLION Dollars in total sales volume! That’s no small feat in the North West Georgia market, where the local home prices are usually well below the national average.

From the 1990′s to 2008, Doreen averaged about 6 million dollars in total sales volume each year.
Even today, in the midst of the worst housing market since the great depression, Doreen and her “WOW-Wanco” team are top ranked producers, with over two million dollars in yearly sales volume, good enough for a number 8 ranking for total sales for Exit Realty in the state of Georgia.

We recently sat down with Doreen to discuss her business secrets. Here is a little bit of that interview:

RealtyBizNews.com: You are ranked in top 1% Nationwide: How did you reach that ranking? What is your secret?

Doreen: “Consistency – my motto is the golden rule, treat people with honesty and integrity. No matter what, you must think of your clients first. Contrary to popular myth, being a great real estate agent is not a numbers game, it’s a people business. I specialize in building relationships. Many of my clients did business with me 10, 15, or even 20 years ago. Today these clients are sending their kids to me, as well as their friends. “

“They trust me so they want to do business with me. I cultivate relationships for the long term. The dollars come as a result of this. It’s a long term plan. People know whether you’re there to make a dollar or you’re truly looking after their best interests.”

“I also place a great emphasis on education and the need to stay current. I usually get around 300 hours of CE every four years, not just the required 24 hours. Things are changing fast and it’s very important to know what is going on in this business. Knowledge is power and real estate agency is a very detailed business. You’ve gotta know what you’re talking about.”

RealtyBizNews.com: How has technology impacted your business? What technology, if any, has been most important to you?

Doreen: “The I-Phone! – I never dreamed of how important things like texting could be. With the new mobile technology, I can sit in my car and access property info right on the spot. And the internet made it possible to do business anywhere. I no longer have to return to the office to check property data. I recently worked with a client who is located in California, and we did everything online.”

RealtyBizNews.com: Have you made any changes in your business since the housing crisis started?

Doreen: “Yes, I’ve gotten my REO certification and gone through an extensive program to become a Certified Georgia Real Estate Instructor. I’m also much more involved with property management. I’m always adjusting to where the market is going, through education and taking the market as it comes.
I decided to sharpen my skills regarding short sales and foreclosures after the housing crisis started.
For continued success as a Realtor® You have to be willing to be adaptable and diversified.”

2010 Awards And Achievements:

• Bartow Area Phoenix Life Award
• Silver – Bartow Area Board of Realtors
• Bartow Area Board of Realtors Past Alternate State Director
• Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) – Legal Action Committee
• Licensed Certified Instructor for the State of Georgia
• Over $68,000,000 in Total Career Sales Volume
• GAR Education Facilitator
• CREO Certified Specialist
• HUD Specialist
• Broker: Exit Realty Donald Ray & Associates

You may contact Doreen and view her properties on her website at: http://www.wowanco.com

Prop2Go announces new expansion to overseas markets

Prop2Go has taken the decision to expand globally rather than focusing on the local market, and Jason Richard, founder and CEO of the company says “We have the technology already developed, and we have the hardware to maintain it, why not test the limits of our ingenuity.” They have just launched in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India and the United Kingdom.

One of the strengths of the company is the ability to capture and store real estate data, and they want to see what kind of results they can obtain from the world real estate and rental industry. Their ultimate aim is to have sufficient property listings to enable them to mine for social economic trends in the world market, and they expect to achieve this by as early as next year.

Research and innovation at Prop2Go is driven by the growth in web traffic, and everything is tested in real time. Jason says “It’s the only way we can be certain that the results are properly measured. Our primary focus is providing quality service to our clients which are realtors and property managers, but at the same time we are innovating every day.”

Prop2Go is popular with property managers for the huge amount of traffic it can send to their listings

It certainly seems to be paying off, as web traffic is increasing every month. The company gains revenue by offering its services to property managers and realtors, and also uses advertising revenue to pay for research. Prop2Go is good at driving large amounts of visitor traffic within a very short time period, and is aiming to prove this competency to new markets.

Jason is confident that they can easily meet their goals, and they are already close to obtaining critical mass of data, as long as they can keep the momentum going and keep adding property listings.

The presentation will be at The Senior Center, 293 Murray Hill Road, Bergenfield at 10:30 am, with caretakers and seniors being invited to attend. Carolyn Monaco is a Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES) and is certified by the state of New Jersey. She has 25 years of real estate experience, and is certainly well qualified to give useful information to seniors and caretakers about services offered by the county and state.

Carolynn Monaco. Courtesy of North Jersey Media

She can give marketing advice for a seniors current home, according to whether it will be rented or sold, and can help seniors find appropriate new homes. In addition to being a licensed Realtor, Monaco is a certified license fee appraiser, a licensed title insurance producer and Notary Public.

There’s no doubt that there is a real need for all types of senior housing, especially as the recession has been devastating for many older Americans, and has also had a considerable impact on the ability of local communities to meet the needs of older residents. A recent survey by the National Association of Area Agencies on Ageing (N4A) found that most communities haven’t been able to move programs and services forward to any real degree, due to declining government budgets.

Senior housing remains a problem area for much of the US. courtesy of Seniors for Living

It found that subsidized housing availability has fallen from 70% in 2005 to 63%. With millions of baby boomers now reaching retirement age, a much higher level of progress is needed to ensure that there are an adequate number of retirement homes available.

Sandy Markwood, CEO of N4A had this to say: “Although communities have done an admirable job to maintain the status quo considering the economic conditions we faced, given the dramatic ageing demographics, the status quo is not good enough. These findings should be a major wake-up call for local governments.”

Registered sellers are paid for their home listing according to the amount of attention generated, while those looking to buy can browse through dozens of listings online in search of their dream home. This is a very different approach from standard real estate websites, as home sellers get a percentage of the profits generated by the site.

RealtyPin is the most profitable way to sell online. Courtesy of Mike Wheatley

This profit is generated through a combination of revenue from on-site advertising and the number of hits a listing acquires. Although anyone can list their home for free, proactive sellers can choose to pay to have their home in a “Featured” listing, ensuring it will be widely seen and increasing the potential for profit.

James Paffrath Co CEO of RealtyPin says “We’re the only US national real estate search portal that offers revenue sharing with its members. Other sites have huge overheads and expenses. We prefer to keep costs low and give back to our users instead.” He went on to explain that 25% of the sites revenue is re-distributed amongst members, and that as costs are being kept low there is strong potential for growth in the next few years.

Make money when selling online with the RealtyPin search portal. Courtesy Azura Realty

In addition, RealtyPin offers users information on home loans, and tips on buying and selling property, as well is the easiest way to improve a home’s value prior to putting it on the market.

The site is still developing new revenue streams, but it’s certainly a new and fresh way of attracting sellers. RealtyPin currently has over 500,000 listings, and is constantly improving the features offered. They intend to have an expanded and improved agent finder which will enable agents to more accurately target buyers and sellers in their area.

Dannie Walker of Prudential Northwest Properties

She will oversee the Bend, Sunriver and Prineville offices and will be in charge of the Central Oregon region, and Walker’s task is to grow the firm’s presence within the market. Walker is certainly well qualified for the job, as she has nearly 30 years of real estate experience and is a former president of the Oregon Association of Realtors. She is currently a Director for the Association and a Chair of the Professional Standards Committee.

Before joining Prudential Northwest Properties, Walker was Principal Broker/Owner of Walker and associates and holds CRB, CRS, GRI and ABR designations. She has a strong management and property management background.

Bert Waugh Jr. says “I am so pleased to have Dannie joining Prudential Northwest properties. It’s a real pleasure to have her here with us.”

Prudential Northwest Properties. Courtesy of Dylandarling

Jason Waugh also feels that she will be a great addition to the leadership team, and says “Our values are in alignment; she has great energy, and she’ll be a terrific asset as we grow the company and increase our presence in Central Oregon.”

Prudential Northwest Properties was founded in 1948 and is regarded as being one of the most progressive real estate firms in the country. It’s the largest locally owned real estate company in the region and has 22 offices and nearly 600 brokers in Oregon and Washington.

The company is an independently owned and operated affiliate of Prudential, and is continually ranked in the top 2% of the network. It is also ranked in the top 10 brokerages in North America, a rating that is independently measured and based on client satisfaction.

Memphis circa 1900 - Courtesy The University of Memphis

One segment of the industry not so often mentioned, historic preservation and the market thereof, all but disappeared from the news of late. And this is particularly true for Memphis, where being a real estate agent has to be something like being homeless. When I learned of the sale of a wonderful Pre-Civil War mansion there though, I instantly thought of our friends in real estate in Tennessee. My hometown of Charleston, SC taught me a lot about the Historic Register and the seemingly never ending spiral of demand for old houses – more later on the certainties there – but Memphis can use this shot in the arm.

At the front of the house - Courtesy Sowell and Company

Ken Robison, a local businessman, just purchased a 161 year old masterpiece Annesdale, located in the neighborhood of the same name. This marvelous Antebellum home on 7 private acres, sports over 8,400 square feet of living space and 5 to 6 bedrooms (depending on who you listen to). According to the reports from Robison, his intention to completely renovate the mansion fall in line with either, A – living in the home himself, or B reselling the property for a tidy profit once the market goes up. Either way, the suggested list price of $975,000 seems like a bargain, recession or no.

While more details of Robison’s plans are not available yet, the man owns Robison Finch Estate Sales and Appraisals there, so one has to know he can spot a value. The news from the Commercial Appeal in Memphis quoted Robison as saying of the estate: “The house is the finest piece of architecture in Memphis.”

The wonderfully ornate ceilings - Courtesy Sowell and Company

Robison did not disclose the purchase price he gave for the home, but Memphis Realtor Ed E. Beasley Jr. told reporters the home’s listing price. We obtained some of our images via Beasley’s listing of the house, for which RealtyBizNews wishes to thank him. And for those of you considering snatching up a bargain historic heirloom, maybe Robison’s good fortune will spur you on? For more information about this historic area of Memphis, please visit the Annesdale-Snowden Historic District website.

And a last note from my Charleston comment above, they do not make any more of these historic homes – while prices may deflate occasionally, the general trend is ALWAYS up – by a lot too. But then Robison and others know this.

Dick Helminiak, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Preferred Associates, is advocating a new kind of technology to attract home buyers to his firm’s offerings. All of his listed properties in Toledo, Ohio, now carry a bar code on the for sale sign at the front of the house.

QR Code apps. image courtesy of Branding Brand

“Buyers want instant information”, Helminiak claimed, as he showed off his new real estate app. “All you need now is a smartphone, and you’ll get that information. Simply walk up to the sign, scan it with your phone, and you’ll be granted access to a virtual tour of the property, along with access of all the available information we have”, he said.

How the QR barcode looks. Image courtesy of eurotechnology.com

The new QR code (Quick Response) technology allows interested people to find out all they need to know about any interesting listed properties they come across immediately, without needing to call out the Realtor or disturb the owners.

Information given includes videos, pictures, dimensions and prices, which can even be stored into your smartphone’s browsing history, so you can recall it later.

RE MAX. Image courtesy of Media Point

One of the requirements is that you need to turn your smartphone into a bar code scanner, but there’s already an app to do that.

Helmniak hopes that not only will his new real estate app make things easier for buyers, it will be easier on the environment too, as paper flyers will be consigned to the dustbin if it takes off.